


A Little Rush

by InjuredMoonDance



Category: Clone High
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mild Language, Post-Canon, Slight Oocness towards the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28880868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InjuredMoonDance/pseuds/InjuredMoonDance
Summary: JFK was twelve the first time he noticed Joan. He was sixteen when he understood why.
Relationships: Cleopatra/Abraham Lincoln (Clone High), JFK & Ponce "Poncey" de León (Clone High), JFK/Joan of Arc (Clone High)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 78





	A Little Rush

He was twelve years old the first time he noticed Joan.

Granted, he was barely beginning to notice the girls his age as more than annoyances at that time. In his mind he had Ponce, Julius and Napoleon, there was no need to add a girl to his life, even if he had noticed how different Cleo looked now that the summer break was over. In his defense, everyone had noticed.

But Joan was playing basketball with Lincoln and Gandhi. Although Joan and Lincoln seemed to be doing most of the playing. Gandhi was running around to whatever caught his attention even if it wasn’t the ball. From what Kennedy was able to listen, he was supposed to keep the score between them. With his running around, the job had fallen onto Joan. It should not have been very hard job since she was the one doing most of the scoring anyways.

“What are you looking at?” Ponce’s voice resonated to his right. Kennedy’s cheeks turned a bright shade of pink and he almost dropped the ball in his hands. Even Julius seemed to look at him with curiosity but didn’t make any comment.

“I eh-ur nothing,” he stammered and grabbed Ponce’s arm.

He walked to where Joan had scored a point despite Lincoln’s attempts to stop her. It was only at the other side of the court, but for Kenndy it was as if the path was longer. If Ponce had any question about his behavior, he had been cool enough not to say them out loud and let himself be pulled by his friend who had somehow managed to subdue the heat on his cheeks.

“We eh-ur wanna play basketball in teams,” Kennedy said, stepping between Joan and Lincoln, nearly pushing the guy. Joan and Lincoln glanced cautiously at each other, even Gandhi stopped whatever he was doing to hear the conversation. Kennedy knew he was born to be the center of attention, but he had never in his life felt so exposed.

“We do?” Ponce narrowed his eyebrows for a second, only to feel Kennedy’s elbow hitting him on the side. The boy smiled apologetically and held the side of his body.

“We do.” Kennedy assured, plastering a big smile and putting the ball under his arm, “And we came to ask you if you’d like to play.” the question was directed at Joan, who was holding her ball in her hands. Lincoln was looking between both of them in cautious curiosity. Kennedy hoped he knew he wasn’t invited.

Joan seemed to think about her answer for a second, looking in between Kennedy and Lincoln time and time again before looking at the ball under Kennedy’s arm, “Can Abe play?”

“But he sucks,” Kennedy was quick to shoot back. A frown grew in Joan’s face, her mouth turning into a tense line. He was unsure of why the shift in her expression, he had been honest, wasn't that supposed to be a good thing?

Ponce stepped between the trio, an awkward smile in his face, not quite understanding why his friend was acting the way he was, but staying by his side nevertheless. Kennedy knew he could never ask for a better friend.

“It’s just that there’s three of us, see?” Ponce pointed at JFK, Julius -who so far had laid on a bench not caring much for the outcome of whatever Kennedy was trying to do- and himself, “and it would be unfair if we had a team of three and another of two,”

Kennedy nodded after Ponce’s words; thankful he had managed to come up with an excuse that was even better than having to tell Lincoln how terrible he was.

“If Abe’s not playing, I’m not playing,” Joan sentenced, turning his back to them and bouncing the ball against the floor. An unfamiliar feeling bubbled in Kennedy’s chest, and a frown formed in his usually smiling face.

“Whatever, it’s your lost anyway Betty." Kennedy shrugged, turning his back to them. He felt Ponce’s eyes on his back and he knew he would probably ask him about it later or at the very least tell him he was open if he wanted to talk about what had happened. “I eh ur, am not gonna risk ending in the same team as a loser just to play basketball with an eh-ur girl,”

The next thing JFK felt was a ball colliding against his head. And he could have sworn, he saw Ponce trying not to laugh.

-.-.-.-.-.-

He’s thirteen the first time he asks his dads for dating advice.

It’s not like he’s unfamiliar with dating, he had asked Anne Boleyn to go with him to the movies not too long ago. They had ended up making out, which had been amazing. His reason for asking them was that the idea of asking Joan out created a pit in his stomach he couldn’t dare to talk about with anyone else but Ponce. The boy had nodded as if he knew all the answers but ended up telling him he had never heard of something like that before.

He liked to think, it was fear for the next time she would punch him. It was a strange comfort, but it was the only reasonable explanation he could find. The only flaw to his otherwise perfect logic was that if it was fear, he wouldn’t go out of his way to pester her like he did most days.

His dads were all kinds of supportive, not asking many questions about who he was going to ask but still trying to let him know all that they knew that could help him to ask someone out successfully.

That was why Kennedy had tried to make himself look good, better than usual if that was even possible. He even went as far as to answer a question in class. The teacher had told him the answer was wrong, but at least Joan had looked at him surprised when she saw him with his hand lifted to answer a question. That had to count for something.

When the class was over, Cleo said goodbye to him with a kiss on the cheek, and Ponce, the only one who knew about his plan gave him a pat in the back and a thumbs up.

He turned to Joan and saw Lincoln walking to her as she packed all her books in her schoolbag. She was smiling and a different kind of feeling set in the pit of his stomach. It made him grow angry at Lincoln even if the boy had done nothing that could affect him.

Kennedy shook his head and rushed to them stepping in front of the girl, a wide smile in his face. “Hey, Joan,”

She rolled her eyes at the sound of his voice. The lack of violence had to be a good sign.

“Can I eh-ur talk to you? Alone.” he glared at Lincoln, who sighed, lifting his hands and trailing behind Gandhi who was talking excited about a movie he had seen the night before.

“What do you want Kennedy?” she spat, crossing her arms, her eyebrows furrowed with a growing irritation in her voice. Kennedy had to remind himself that he could not stare at her for forever if he wanted to be successful.

“I eh-ur am doing you the honor of asking you to go on a date with me.” he smiled wide, adjusting his schoolbag over his shoulder.

The silence was worse than if she had straight up kicked him in the face before he even had the chance to ask.

There was a slight pink in her pale face as she looked at him up and down. He had finally made it, she would agree, and they’d have a lot of fun. Maybe he could take her to play basketball with someone who actually knew how to play for a change.

He didn’t expect her to curl her fists at each side of her body before she punched him in the stomach and pushed him to the dirty classroom floor.

“If this is your idea of a joke, JFK, it’s not fucking funny,” she spat before stomping to the door. If Lincoln and Gandhi had waited for her, Kennedy had no way to know. It was hard to see things while he was laying on the floor wondering what exactly had he done wrong. He wasn’t sure if the pain in his stomach was because of the hit or because of something else.

Ponce entered cautiously not long after Joan left, and helped Kennedy stand up. The boy readjusted his schoolbag over his shoulder and tried to clean the dirt off of his shirt.

“Sorry it didn’t go your way Jack.” he patted his friend’s back. Kennedy shrugged, giving it no importance to it.

“Doesn’t matter, there are many girls in the school,” he said, as he walked through the classroom’s door. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joan catching up to Abe and looking at him with anger. His mouth turned into a line and his eyes focused on the floor, the same strange ugly feeling returning.

“Hey, Eva!” Kennedy greeted following after the first girl he saw, plastering the biggest smile on his face.

Even Ponce seemed to watch this with curiosity. His eyes going from Joan to his freind but refusing to say anything as Eva Peron accepted Kennedy’s invitation to the movies.

-.-.-.-.

Visiting the library was something Kennedy only did when he had important business to attend, which most of the time, meant making out with some girl. It wasn’t like the place had any particularly interesting books, anyways. Quite on the contrary, the place was swarmed with biographies that he did not care about with the exception of his clone’s father.

He had read the first part of a two-tome to read about the life of the original John F. Kennedy. That first tome had told him everything he needed to know.

He was a womanizer

He was a stud

He conquered the moon.

Of course, he couldn’t put foot on the moon or on mars himself yet, but what he could do was live up to the part where he was a womanizing stud.

That was one of the main reasons why he was making out with Cleo in a corner of the library. No one visited it, so the chances that they’d get caught were slim.

Cleo had become the most popular girl in the entire school, so as a womanizer and a stud, it only made sense that Kennedy asked her out. He had initially expected she would reject him, given that it was the fate most boys who asked her out suffered. She had accepted and after a couple of successful dates, they were at the back of the library.

She wasn’t the first girl he took to that corner of the school. Most, if not all of the Clone High students had learnt about why Kennedy’s visits to the library had become more frequent in the past year.

Cleo broke their kiss, putting a finger on Kennedy’s lips when he tried to lean for another, “Wait, someone’s coming,”

He paid more attention his surroundings rather than the girl he was holding close. A chair was dragged, and a little too familiar voice began to mutter a long sentence that wallowed in self-pity. It was easy to note it was the voice of vulnerable teenage girl but being locked at the back of the school made it difficult to identify exactly whose voice it was.

Kennedy almost leant to see who exactly was pathetic enough to spend their time after school in an lame library feeling sorry for themselves. Instead, he felt Cleo’s lips clashing against his own and he forgot about whoever had walked inside. He was quick to return the kiss and he pulled her as close as possible

“Let’s go somewhere else,” Cleo whispered to his ear, and Kennedy smiled, picking his schoolbag from the floor, and throwing it over his shoulder.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Kennedy threw himself in his bed, groaning. Ponce was sitting in the chair near his desk (which was rarely used to do homework). Kennedy could see how he was struggling not to laugh as his friend told him what had happened during the week he hadn’t gone to school.

“Hey, it’s not funny,” Kennedy said throwing a pillow that landed on the floor.

“Jack, I’m sorry, you have to admit, it kinda is,” he smiled, Kennedy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “All Joan had to do was put on a mustache and no one in the team even suspected John D’ark was a girl, or some made up personality,”

“It was a eh-ur pretty convincing mustache,” Kennedy pouted, playing with a basketball in his hands.

“Of course,” he nodded, coughing to avoid laughing, “and she was even better than your team’s captain, is she gonna stay in the team?”

Kennedy stopped playing, the ball still in his hands, eyebrows knit together, “I don’t think so, no one said anything about it.”

“Oh, too bad, you’re gonna miss your friend D’ark,” Ponce smiled soft, but Kennedy could see the mischief in his eyes. His cheeks turned a bright red and his eyes turned to the picture that Mr. Bultlertron had taken to celebrate the team’s first point scored in the season.

“Remember when you asked Joan to play with us when we were kids and she said no because you didn’t want to include Lincoln,” Ponce questioned, Kennedy rose an eyebrow and left the ball in the floor watching it roll to Ponce’s feet.

Kennedy rose a curious eyebrow, “Yeah, what does that have to do with anything?”

Ponce’s lips twitched and he shook his head, “Nothing, Jack, nothing,” he rose a hand.

Kennedy rose until he was sitting at the edge of his bed. He stared at his friend up and down with a scowl, “You’re hiding something,”

It wasn’t a question. He and Ponce never hid anything from each other, that was the most obvious fact.

Ponce sighed, “Look, you know you are my best friend, and that I’m always going to be there for you, but I have to be honest with you here,”

Kennedy repressed the urge to tell him he might as well change his name to Abraham Lincoln when he saw the seriousness in his friend’s face. He swallowed hard, awaiting for Ponce's next words.

“Have you stopped to consider that maybe, just maybe, you could like Joan,” Ponce tried. Kennedy furrowed his eyebrows, an unfamiliar heat in his cheeks and his heart skipped a beat.

Under the curious eyes of his friend, and despite the heat in his face, Kennedy shrugged, “She’s a broad, and obviously, she’s hot, so of course I like Joan”

“No, Kennedy I meant like as in crush, you know, the date kind of thing.” Ponce explained. Kennedy knew exactly what he meant, but he didn’t want to entertain the idea. He just wasn’t into Joan, she was smart, pretty and crazy good at basketball, not to mention insanely hot and far too good for that Lincoln jerk.

“Nah, that’s stupid, I don’t do the date thing, we both know how that turned out with Cleo,”

“A week ago you would have said the idea of being with a guy was stupid.” Ponce pointed out, this time, Kennedy’s face turned bright red.

“It’s not the same thing,” Kennedy dismissed, letting out a loud groan, “Do I think Joan is hot? yes, she is very hot, but that doesn’t mean I like her, plus she always hits me when I try to get with her.”

Ponce nodded, as if all the wisdom in the world had fallen upon his shoulders, or maybe it had always been there. “All I’m saying is that we are young, but we have to live every day, and Joan’s a cool chick I would hate to be with you in thirty years from now and see that you regretted something from your youth, you know.”

“It’s gonna be fine,” Kennedy shrugged, although he wasn’t entirely sure he was telling the truth, “She’s not even on the list anyways.”

Ponce lifted an eyebrow at this, but changed the topic of conversation to a movie he had seen last night on the TV.

-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kennedy was sure the whole ‘don’t be friends with your ex’ was bullshit.

At least he now was. Truth be told, the only major ex he had ever had was Cleo, and he never felt any sort of animosity towards her when she had decided to build a relationship with someone else, even if that someone else was Lincoln. He had, of course, tried to win her back but at some point he had gotten past the heartbreak and was perfectly contempt with the friendliness they had.

There was also the fact, that he didn’t have many girls he could actually consider his friends, even if he had slept or at the very least made out with quite a large part of Clone High’s female population.

The main reason to his logic was because he wasn’t sure what would have been of him if Cleo hadn’t been supporting him.

The rest of the students had given his condolences, but those that were closest to him were also close to Ponce. They also had to grieve and weren’t entirely sure what to do with the grieving Kennedy. It was alright, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself either now that his best friend was gone.

He almost felt bad for causing a dent in Cleo’s relationship with Lincoln when she tagged him along to their date night just so that he wouldn’t be alone while his gay dads were out of town. He couldn’t understand why she was so happy with Lincoln, but as long as she was alright all was cool.

It had taken a while for Kennedy to come up with terms with the fact that Ponce was truly gone and that the Genie couldn’t bring him back. Genie’s weren’t all powerful, but at least he was honoring the memory of his friend by cleaning the school.

“How are you doing?” Cleo’s voice took him by surprise, he jumped and turned to her, she gave him a half apologetic smile.

“I’ll be better,” he assured with a single courtly nod, most of the people who had helped clean had left already. He had to see if he could help Ponce’s dad to get a job somewhere else.

“Good,” Cleo smiled, “I’m leaving with Abe, do you want a ride…”

“I think I’ll stay here for a while,” Kennedy interrupted, throwing a half-eaten apple to a bin.

Cleo nodded, unaccustomed to the rejection, “Just, let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“Sure, thank you Cleo,” Kennedy half-smiled.

She wrinkled her nose in pretend disgust, and lifted her hand, “Don’t mention it.”

Kennedy would be lying if he went to anyone and said he still felt for Cleo what he had felt not too long ago. He still thought she was cool, and he was sure there was more of her than what she wanted the world to see.

-.-.-.-.-.

Trying not to hear the whistles and the catcalling in the school’s hallway was impossible.

When he turned and saw who they were catcalling. A part of Kennedy wanted to know why Joan wasn’t kicking them. He knew she would have kicked the lights out of him for far less than that.

Another part, an, admittedly less smart part, thought it as finally his chance to ask Joan to the prom and be sure she would say yes this time.

She had always been pretty, he was aware of that even when she left him in the floor with a black eye to explain to his gay dads. Maybe, now that she had decided to dress sluty, he’d actually get a chance. The whole lower you standards thing might get him somewhere this time. It sounded pretty pathetic if he said it out loud, but Joan was worth it.

“…and you’ll obviously say yes.” he smiled wide.

Apparently, the whole hitting people was limited to people she was somehow close to. He found a new surge of inspiration if he convinced himself to think it was their thing. This gave him a small hint of extra hope, maybe all he needed was a different approach.

“I’m just a shy-lad…”

No, that didn’t work either. And she was getting stronger.

Joan’s rant of how she was waiting for someone special was interrupted by Lincoln. Kennedy remained sitting on the floor, watching the scene unfold.

“How is that a question?” her voice broke, Kennedy rose an eyebrow. He hadn't heard what Lincoln had said, but he knew whatever it was, it had been enough to make Joan feel bad again.

Unsurprisingly, Joan had managed to bend a metal door by a single kick. She wouldn’t go to prom with him, but at least he could try to make her smile and for a second forget about how much of an asshole Lincoln was being.

“I just heard a word, it stars with an S, ends with an S and has a lut inside… a Lutof me!”

It wasn’t his best job, he had to admit that, and if Ponce had been alive he would have probably assured him of such. She turned to him, and he flinched, waiting for the fist on his face or the locker-bending kick to his stomach since it was closer.

But the hit never came.

Instead, she laughed. It was one of the fakest laughs he had heard in his life, but somehow the idea that she could be laughing at something he said built something up in his chest.

“Oh, JFK you are so funny I’m so glad we’re going to prom together,”

Kennedy furrowed his eyebrows, replying their last interaction to make sure all those kicks and punches weren’t starting to affect his memory, “but you said no,”

For a second the fake smile fell from Joan’s face before it came up again, “As a giggly vapid slut, I get so confused,”

A smile grew on Kennedy’s face. Success was success even if it was through a poorly planned revenge against a tall lanky asshole.

“You and JFK, huh?”

“Yes” Joan’s fake laughter continued, and she moved a hand to Kennedy’s shoulder.

“That’s cool, I’m so… excited for you guys.” Lincoln’s expression fell.

Kennedy knew all he had to do was say the word and Joan would drop their short-lived idea of date and run to his arms.

“Well, I’m off to buy some condoms,” the smile returned to Lincoln’s face and he turned his back to Joan, whose fingers were still on Kennedy’s hair and Kennedy, who watched him go with a frown.

One thing was certain in JFK’s mind. Abe was a jerk.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Joan had so far, refuse every attempt of Kennedy to ask her to dance. It was a revenge prom-date, but it didn’t mean it had to be a bad one. He knew shouldn’t’ have invited the other four girls, but he needed a back up plan in case Lincoln actually learned how to add two and two and asked Joan to leave with him. As a Kennedy, he wasn’t accustomed to heartbreak, but he knew he’d live through it.

Maybe tonight would be the night Joan would get what she always wanted. It was fine, he had Catherine and the Bronte sisters anyways. Not to mention, it was weird to see Joan like that. He had toned down the sex-related jokes, but the few he had said had done nothing but earned him a fake laughter. he was almost beginning to miss getting punched by her.

When Abe went to their table, he took the Bronte sisters and danced with them for what was probably the third time that night. He would have asked Catherine, but he was unsure of where she had gone.

By the time he turned his head back to the table, Joan had already left, and Lincoln was being dragged by Cleo by the hand.

He knit his eyebrows together for a second and rushed to get the three stooges, telling the sisters to wait. Once he approached the three stooges he told them to follow him. They complied, standing behind him while the sisters sat on their table.

“Bronte sisters, the three stooges,” he hastily introduced and walked away as fast as he could.

-.-.-.-.-

Finding Joan had been relatively easy, all he had to do was sense the silent sobs of vulnerable teenage girl.

She was outside, prom dress long gone and hair back to normal. She seemed so defeated, Kennedy felt bad, even if he knew he wasn’t the reason of it. He approached her with caution first, trying to see if she would kick him and tell him to go away. He could still hear the fait tune of a song through the door.

“Shouldn’t you be with your other dates?” Her voice was filled with resignation as she stared at the floor. Kennedy shrugged sitting by her side.

“Catherine is uh heaving vile onto the hot-dog cart and I uh gave the Bronte sisters to the three stooges.” he admitted, this seemed to get her attention for a second. She rose an eyebrow, but her eyes remained focused on anything else.

“You know, I used you Kennedy, I used to try to make Abe jealous.”

He knew he wasn’t particularly smart, but even he wasn’t as dumb as to believe she had accepted to go to prom with him willingly after knocking the air out of him twice in a row.

“I’m such a girl,” she groaned, burying her head between her hands.

He put his hand on her shoulder, a sympathetic smile in his face. He took a deep breath and gathered the courage to speak. It was strange, the words tended to come naturally to him.

“Exactly, you’re a real knock-out betty Joan,” he hesitated for brief second, trying to get his next words to come the way he wanted them to. “and a better Betty, when you’re not faking being a slutty whore.”

She smiled, eyes filled with surprise and a strange ghost of hope and turned to his direction. She looked even better than what she had with the red dress, and she looked crazy-good with the red dress. “You mean, you like me when I’m just me?”

He failed to understand why something like that was so surprising.

“Ring-a ding ding.” he winked.

Was there really another reason to like someone? He had also liked Cleo for who she was, she was smart when she put her mind on things and they both got each other. Why would he like Joan for another reason that wasn’t her. The realization weighted onto him, but he didn’t have too much time to dwell on it when he saw her smile.

“That chowderhead Lincoln just can’t see it without some bozo make over,” she was till smiling, so he continued, “I tell you, that guy’s head is so full of chowder, he should have a bread bowl for a beard.”

He laughed, thinking she would join after trashing the guy that had caused her pain. Instead, her expression fell, and she rolled her eyes at him, eyes returning to the pavement. He laughed awkward, swallowing hard after.

“Not funny.” she complained, head on a hand.

“You have to admit, the guy’s kind of a jerk,” Kennedy shrugged.

Joan rose an eyebrow, an amused smile on her face as she turned back to him, “That’s rich coming from you.”

“Hey, I have never misled anyone, we can’t say the same thing about Lincoln.”

“He never…” Joan began, but she paused right after, sighing. “Okay, I’ll give you one, but only one,”

“One… what?” Kennedy rose a suggestive eyebrow, “Because I’ve told you before, I’m open for anything.”

He was sure he had never felt happier about a hand colliding against his face, and he probably wouldn’t ever be.

“Maybe I deserve that.” Kennedy rubbed his cheek.

“Maybe?”

She laughed. Kennedy found himself laughing alongside her. It didn’t take long for a comfortable silence to set between them. Kennedy didn’t feel like there was anything else he could say so he remained quiet

“You should go back to the prom, I might go home soon,,” Joan was the one to break it.

Kennedy shrugged, “Nah, I’m staying, my er-uh date is here.”

Before he knew it, Joan’s head was leaning against his shoulder, and he swallowed hard, feeling an unfamiliar heat rise to his face. This time, he fully welcomed it.

-.-.-.

Winter break had come and gone. Spring was almost near, and all Kennedy could say about where his relationship with Joan stood was iffy at its best. There were moments when they could carry a normal conversation, other times she would kick him for approaching and other times, she would simply leave wherever he was.

He took consolation on the fact that she at least wasn’t avoiding him like she was with Lincoln. She had gone as far as to take Kennedy as a work partner to make sure she wouldn’t have to take Lincoln. The thought gave him more joy than what it probably should have.

Lincoln wasn’t avoiding him. Kennedy had almost thought he could get along with the guy but now every time they crossed each other; he did little more than glare at him. Kennedy didn’t mind, it was Joan’s occasional coldness that was bothering him.

They got along, or so he liked to think at the very least. Kennedy wasn’t used to not knowing where his relationship with someone laid. He knew the occasional chick was only a one-time thing, and that Cleo had been his girlfriend despite the disparities.

But with Joan it was entirely unknown to him. It was like stepping into uncharted territory.

Sometimes she would brush the hair behind her ear and smile as she walked by his side on the hallway, other times she would turn the other side when she saw him by his locker. The uncertainty was killing him.

Ponce would have probably would have known what to do. He always knew what to do when people were acting weird. In the occasions they had spoken -on which Kennedy had surprised himself with how much he knew about her- the topic of Prom and what they had done never came up.

It took him a while to notice that whenever someone mentioned prom even in passing, she glanced in his direction trying to hide the way her cheeks lit up. It was utterly adorable, and it took amounts of strength he didn’t knew he had to not go to her and pick her up to leave kisses all over her face.

The thing that had made him step up was seeing Lincoln approaching Joan. Although it wasn’t abnormal, somethint about Lincoln's expression seemed different. Kennedy hurried his pace to them, standing between the lanky guy and Joan who seemed like she was five seconds away to make up an excuse to avoid him.

“JFK, I was going to…”

“Hey baby,” Kennedy smiled at Joan, interrupting Lincoln. She tucked her hair behind her ear, “We kinda uh need to talk,” he spoke, Joan lifted an eyebrow, looking in between him and Lincoln. “Can I walk you to class?”

Joan gave Lincoln a hurried glance “Sure…”

Kennedy grinned, putting a hand around Joan’s shoulder and taking her past Lincoln who muttered a series of curses and walked somewhere else.

“Do you need anything?” Joan questioned, removing herself from underneath Kennedy’s arm and rising a questioning eyebrow.

“Not really, you just looked like you needed a way out,” Kennedy shrugged, rubbing his shoulder.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Nah, I’m just that amazing,” he grinned.

Joan rolled her eyes, stopping in front of her classroom, “Shut up.”

“Hey, Let’s go out, tonight,” he grinned, stepping backwards, “I’ll pick you up after school, on the back,” Joan rolled her eyes and walked into her classroom. Kennedy smiled to himself.

Kennedy spent the remaining of the day paying less attention than usual, staring at the class clock until the bell rang. Once it did, Kennedy picked all of his stuff in a hurry and ran to his car and drove it to the back of the school.

His hopes that she would show up were pretty slim until she saw leaving the school as if she were on the middle of a secret mission. She rushed to him and opened the door of his car without giving him time to react and put the seatbelt on.

“Hey bab..”

“Step on it Kennedy,” Joan interrupted. Kennedy nodded, with an amused grin.

“As you wish,” he said and drove away from the school, from his rearview mirror he saw Cleo and Lincoln standing where Joan had been.

Joan sank on the seat, her schoolbag resting on her legs.

“Where are you taking me?” Joan questioned. Kennedy swallowed hard but smiled.

“It’s a surprise,” he winked, taking his eyes off the road for a second.

The drive was silent, and short. Occasionally he had made a comment about their surroundings or a poorly crafted sex joke, but the girl had barely reacted to all of his attempts to make a conversation.

He stopped in an old park, it looked like if no one had bothered to cut the grass in months. Joan’s eyes seemed to light up when she noticed where they were. She stared at Kennedy for a second, as if she did not believe they were in the park where they used to play as children.

“What are we doing here?” she rose an eyebrow. Kennedy grinned, reaching for the back of his car and picking a basketball.

“I’m up for a challenge today, are you?” he questioned, throwing the ball at her. She smiled proud, playing with the ball in her hands.

“I’m gonna wipe the floor with you Kennedy.” she sentenced leaving the car. Kennedy grinned.

“I’m eh-ur counting on it, Betty,” he winked, trailing behind the girl.

She threw the ball, and Kennedy admired how it went through the hoop before it rolled at his feet.

“I think we could make this a bit more interesting,” he winked, failing to hold the ball in his fingers and catching it before it fell to the floor.

“I’m not going to sleep…”Joan began, but stopped mid-sentence, her cheeks turning pink.

“Relax, that’s not what I meant… for now,” Kennedy smiled, bouncing the ball on the floor. “I meant like a game, we each try to throw the ball and take it from the other and each that scores gets the right to ask a question.”

“What kind of question?” Joan rose an eyebrow.

“You’ll see when I score,” Kennedy grinned, throwing the ball, it bounced off the hoop and it fell on Joan’s arms. The girl laughed, and Kennedy was sure there were very few sounds that were as amazing.

“Fine, I’m up for it,” Joan agreed. Kennedy’s face lit up until she scored the first point.

“That’s not fair, I wasn’t paying attention” he complained, Joan rolled her eyes.

“What are you talking about? you were staring at me, you must have seen where the ball was going,” Joan laughed.

“Fine, fine,” Kennedy shrugged, cheeks flushed, “I suppose I could give you the first ladies first victory, then ask the first question, D’ark”

Joan rose an eyebrow at the fake last name she had used. She brushed the hair off from her face and held the ball under her arm. Kennedy was certain she was amazing.

“Very well, what’s all this for?”

“What’s what for?”

Joan sighed, Kennedy furrowed his eyebrows for a second, “The asking me out and the playing basketball, I mean, we already slept together I assumed you would lose interest after that.”

Kennedy took a careful step back, unsure of what to make out of what she had said, “Why would I lose interest?” he questioned, Joan looked at him up and down, her mouth tense.

“You haven’t answered my question,” she blurted. Kennedy rose an eyebrow.

“I’m doing it because I want to, you’re a cool broad, Joan of Arc, I wanted to ask you out and clarify some things, this felt like the best way,” he shrugged with a smile.

The girl nodded, bouncing the ball in against the floor. Kennedy stood behind her, taking the ball from her hands. He threw it and smiled victorious when it fell through the hoop. She complained, and he laughed loudly, taking pride in his success.

“Now it’s my turn,” he grinned. “Why would I lose my interest?” he repeated, and watched as the girl furrowed her eyebrows, trying to make up an answer. It reminded him of when she struggled with a particularly difficult question at an exam.

“Isn’t that what you do?” she mumbled, voice resounding with pretend desinterest. “You go after girls, get in their pants and then lose interest and move onto the next girl, I assumed the same thing would happen after we slept together. I don’t know this feels like a lot of effort to be spent on me for a guy whose main reputation comes from sleeping around.”

A low blow, Kennedy thought. But he knew Joan had a point, he hadn’t built himself a reputation as the kind of guy someone went to when looking for a serious relationship. He would have been perfectly fine with the remark not too long ago, but now, hearing it from Joan felt worse than a punch to the gut.

“If I wanted just to have a one night with you, I would have told you that night,” he admitted, “I’m not up for leading anyone on, and while I have slept around, they always knew exactly what I was going for and that they could back out anytime.”

“Right…” Joan mumbled.

“I’m serious,” Kennedy smiled. She turned and threw the ball, Kennedy awaited eagerly for her question, his heart beating fast in his chest.

“What exactly do you get out of this?” Joan rose an eyebrow. Kennedy narrowed his eyebrows.

“I spend time with you and I honor Ponce’s memory,” he shrugged. With Joan's expression it was easy to tell she would need a longer explanation, “You know how Ponce was all about, enjoy life while you still can, you never know when you might die, well I’m following his advice, living every day, and I chose to live this day by asking out the girl I like.” He blushed, rubbing the back of his neck, Joan stood speechless, the ball had bounced somewhere.

“The what?” Joan questioned.

“I like you.” Kennedy admitted, a bit unsure. It was strange to say it out loud when he had to repeat it to himself a thousand times to make sure it was real and to question why he hadn't seen it sooner. “I think I have for a while, I’m not sure, the feelings get fuzzy and confusing pretty quickly and I normally wouldn’t do the date thing, but I’d like to try it out with you." he hid his hands in his pockets and realized it was the first time he actually confessed to a girl what he felt.

Joan remained motionless, her face was still tinted pink.

“You don’t like me,” she finally spat out, Kennedy was taken aback, unsure of what to make of her words.

“How do you know?” he hesitated. Joan scoffed bitterly, and bit her bottom lip.

“You like that I’m hard to get and that I’m not giving up at your feet.”

Kennedy lifted an eyebrow, “If that was the case, I wouldn’t be here after we slept together after prom, well at least not picking you after school and taking you to kick my ass,” he smiled, she laughed faintly, this gave him all the impulse he needed to continue, “You’re awesome Joan, Lincoln couldn’t see it, but I can, and I’m sure others can too,”

He felt Joan’s eyes scan him up and down, with mocked detachment, “Oh, you mean it,” she opened her eyes wide, cheeks turning pink.

“Of course,” Kennedy winked and saw as she softly smiled, holding herself tight against the cold in the air tears prickling at the corner of her eyes. He began to look around, unsure of what to do about her tears. He, however, did know what do about the cold. He took off his sweater and throwing it over her head. It was a little too big on her, but he already knew that

Joan giggled softly, cleaning the tears from her eyes. “You know, I spent a lot of my time going after a guy who just never saw me, and then I began to get feelings for someone else and I thought it wasn’t worth it, I mean, the guy’s quite frankly a jerk so I relinquished any hope for the beginning deciding I would follow my clone mother’s steps and just… never date anyone, I just didn’t envision it would be the jerk who would tell me he likes me”

Kennedy’s heart beat fast in his chest, a smile grew in his face when the girl’s words finally reached his ears.

She liked him back.

His Betty liked him back.

He kissed her. It wasn’t their first kiss, but it almost felt like it was. He cupped her face with his hands and felt how, as she sunk deeper into the kiss, her hands began to travel to the back of his neck. He smiled into the kiss, not quite daring to step away in case it was some wild dream.

It was Joan who broke the kiss apart, and covered her red face in her hands. Kennedy’s heart melted. He let out a loud proud laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Joan complained.

“Nothing,” Kennedy smiled. Cheeks tinted pink “You look great on my sweater, that’s all.” he mumbled.

Joan shook her head, an amused smile in her face. She turned her back on Kennedy, who stared at her and walked to where the ball had fallen, picking it up from the ground.

“Ready for round two?” she questioned.

Kennedy grinned, getting into position.

“Bring it on” he taunted. Joan smiled, bouncing the ball.

He approached her trying to take the ball from her hands. The girl held onto it tight, the boy smiled mischievously, reaching for her sides. 

“No” Joan cried out loud, while laughing, “Stop that, JFK, that’s cheating,” she complained, Kennedy lifted his hands stopping the ball as the girl threw it. He ran after it before Joan got the chance and watched as the ball went through the hoop.

“Hark! My turn,” he grinned, Joan rolled her eyes, calling him a cheater under her breath with flushed cheeks. The smile in her face remained there. “Can I get a kiss and after take my super awesome girlfriend to the Grassy Knoll?” Kennedy lowered to her level; her eyes sparkled. His heartbeat rose on his chest.

Joan scoffed, “You can,” she smiled leaving a soft kiss in his lips.

Kennedy picked the girl up listening to her laugh and held her tight, returning the kiss with the utmost care he could muster.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! After watching this series, I've decided to write this small one-shot for my favorite ship on the show. I apologize for the failed attempt at Kennedy's speech and the slight Oocness at the end. I really hope you have enjoyed this and that you have a lovely day!


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